Each day a different image or photograph is featured, with an
accompanying caption, which deals with various topics in Earth Science.

Boat Wakes from Above

These two wake photos above were taken from a commercial jet on June 20, 2009. The first photograph (at top) was taken in the early afternoon after the plane left Boston's Logan Airport. It shows a boat’s wake in the Atlantic before the plane turned west toward Chicago. As the plane approached Chicago's O'Hare Airport, approximately two hours later, the second photo (at bottom) was captured showing a boat and its wake in Lake Michigan. The two wakes may look similar but their patterns are quite different, reflecting differences between the boats creating them, their speed and the underlying wave conditions in the nearshore Atlantic Ocean and in Lake Michigan.